Shadowy Schemes and Puppet Plays
by Firey-Moonlight
Summary: There's a plot to overthrow the Maou and take the throne. Yuri and Wolfram try to find the leaders while Conrad seeks proof, Murata counterplots, and Gunter finishes what he started


**I know, I know, I have other fics I should be working on, but when the plot bunny strikes who am I to complain? **

**This fic was based on **_**Episode 53**_**, when Gunter went out for a domestic investigation of the country and sees a town similar to the Wild West. It was left rather open-ended, with nobody ever knowing who Gunter really was and Yuri never sending in any troops to acknowledge the existence of the town. So I thought, what if Baxter (not the family, the man, since we never got his first name I'll just call him Baxter) had decided to be more ambitious? **

**NAMES**:  
"**Foy Gras**" – The name that Gunter went under, he meant to say 'Von Christ' but stopped himself, so people thought he meant 'Foy Gras'  
**Gloria** – The young woman who succeed her father as the 'boss' of the town, almost left her post, but returned thanks to Gunter  
**Her ****subordinates** – I call them "**Will and Bill**", Will is tall and skinny, Bill is short and a bit chubby, both are fiercely loyal to Gloria  
**Baxter** – The man who the town was originally going to be left to, he's harsh and loves to bully the weak  
**Lackey** – Though Baxter has several, I named the one who carried a gun "**Bates**", because his obsession with coffins and flowers are batty. He is the only one who personally fought Gunter

**GUNS:  
****KKM takes place in a medieval time, the common weapon being a sword or something with a blade. However in the episode of a 'forgotten town', the people used guns as well as swords. I'm going to say that guns are a new type of weapon and not common to the people of Shin Makoku. **

Yosak was in his element – dressing as a woman to blend into the crowd. It was night now, and he was wandering in the streets, listening to the people talk. Everyday life among the common people, they talked about the prices of goods, their families, gossip, and what was more, they were praising their Maou.

Few people have seen him, and even less knew about their young king's quirks, but he was deeply admired. True, sometimes their images of the Maou made Yosak hysterical with laughter, their belief that the Maou was tall and muscular sent him rolling on his stomach, but he digest. It made him pleased that the people were so happy with their new king; to them, he seemed like someone they could trust. The rumours of the last Maou being nothing but a puppet ruler had damaged their confidence, but nowadays, there was hardly anyone who would speak a bad world about their king.

Still, there will always be those who oppose the Maou, and it was Yosak's job to make sure the people were discovered and dealt with before the Maou could be harmed. Some of the less serious groups had been dealt with by Gwendal, but Yosak was about to discover one of the more serious groups.

He walked to the shadows, and gradually came to a forest. He moved in silently, if his resources were correct, there was another rebel meeting. Silently he slipped between the trees, so skilled in his steps that several animals almost missed him. They didn't messed the other person's, though, there was a person thumping about in the forest as if storming through. Yosak frowned, he laid a hand on his sword before moving forward, spotting the source of the noise. It was a young woman with green eyes and dirty-blond hair.

Yosak silently moved up to her and drew his sword, but the young woman appeared to be more skilled then her movements, for she whirled around and reached for her own side. She stopped when she saw Yosak, and instead snarled "are you one of Baxter's lackeys?"

"No, and it appears as if you're not either, are you?" Yosak smiled, the other women snorted and loosen her hands.

"As if I'll work for him, my name is Gloria, and I'm here to hopefully take him down. I suggest you leave…miss, his men has weapons you've never seen before."

"No can do, Gloria" Yosak grinned "I too, have a similar goal to yours, what do you say to us just going together and seeing if we can deal with him quickly? I would suggest you keeping quiet though" Gloria sniffed impatiently, but turned and walked forward, no longer storming. Finally, the two arrived to an old and supposedly abandoned building. They approached and heard the voices of men speaking.

"His activities are not helping the country of Shin Makoku."

"Co-existence is an illusion, we Mazoku are meant to rule over the humans."

Yosak's eyes narrowed, jackpot? Looks like he's caught the rebels in act, he moved closer in hopes of actually seeing the rebel's faces. Though he had his sources, he had not been able to identify the group or who their leader was. Gloria moved forward as well, no doubt intent on not letting anything loose.

"We must take back the future of our country and race in our own hands"

"Yes, even if that means…"

"That the peace-addled Maou needs to be removed"

Jackpot! Yosak was about to move forward, but Gloria was quicker. To his dismay, however, she stepped on a branch. The men reacted quickly "Who's there?!"

"Shoot!" Yosak cursed, there were several men there and while he had no doubt about his skill, he knew he was ill prepared for a fight at the moment. He was about to run, but Gloria suddenly drew out her weapon and fired.

Yosak recognized that weapon from the stories he heard and diagrams he's seen, it was called a gun or pistol. The men fired back, but Gloria ran out of the way and counterattacked. Yosak, too, took cover close by to see the proceedings. Gunshots filled the air, littering the ground and creating holes in the walls and several trees. Gloria kept moving, firing shots before jumping behind something and firing again. There was a pause when they temporally reloaded their guns, and she yelled out "Baxter! What are you thinking, plotting against the Maou? You'll never get out of this treachery alive!"

"HaHa! Gloria! Trust you to come after me! Whatever happened to the Maou being of no concern to you, because he's forgotten about your town? Go back to your sewing and knitting! Just stay out of my way!" There were a few more gunshots at Gloria's direction, but the large rock she was hiding behind saved her from any damages. When there was a pause, she sprang up and fired. One man let out a yell before falling, and Gloria dunked again when another bullet fired.

"Don't think you can get away with this, Baxter! Even if the Maou doesn't notice, someone else is bound to see your rebellion plans, and turn you in!"

"You have no idea how politics work, do you, Gloria? I have come as a businessman trying to do business with the Maou in regards to firearms. Any ruler will want a strong military, and anti-war or not, his advisors will tell him to seal a deal. If he arrests or executes me in my businessman standing; he will be seen as a horrible ruler, a tyrant! He'll need proof before he can do anything against me! Mere words from you or your lackeys will not be good enough!"

Yosak's eyes narrowed, so the rebel leader was a guy named Baxter who was planning to do a firearms deal with the Maou? He had to get rid of him before Yuri or Shin Makoku became aware of his existence then, or as Baxter stated, killing him without proof would make Yuri's public image look bad. He watched as Gloria reached for more bullets, only to realize she had none left. Looks as if he was going to have to interfere again.

Before the man knew what was happening, Yosak jumped out and threw several small knives forward, all of which hit their targets and made several men incapable of using their guns. He landed on his feet among the groaning men, and smirked "so, another group planning to go against the Maou? You guys underestimate the loyalty and skill of His Majesty's soldiers."

"You…damn you" A man with brown hair, who appeared to be the leader Baxter, snarled "Get him!"

"You! Are you crazy!? A sword against several guns?" Gloria cried, but Yosak didn't turn back to her. Even as he answered, he kept his stance forward against the rebels.

"I'll be fine, Miss Gloria! Hurry! Go find the Lion of Ruttenberg, tell him Yosak sent you! He'll listen to your concerns!"

"I…" Gloria hated to leave this strange 'woman' here alone to deal with Baxter and his men, but there was no other choice. She was incapable of helping right now, and this Lion of Ruttenberg appeared to be someone important that she can rely on, so she obeyed. "Okay! Please take care!" She turned and ran away. Baxter snarled and pointed, one of his unharmed lackeys raised a gun, but Yosak jumped forward. There were several slices, and the gun fell to the floor.

"You're getting annoying!" One of the men snarled as he raised a gun.

Yosak only smirked, but Baxter did the same.

* * *

It was a beautiful day. The sky was blue and the sun was shining, birds were singing and children were laughing. All in all, it was a day where most people would like to be outside, and after having a long debate with Gunter over it, the young Maou was finally allowed to go out. Greta immediately asked for some 'family time', and a determined Wolfram agreed. Yuri, realizing that too much trouble might come out of this, had asked Murata to come along with them and the Sage had agreed.

Conrad currently had other responsibilities to respond to, but he helped dye Yuri's hair and put the contacts on again. Murata, too, had disguised himself, taking up his first appearance with blond hair and blue eyes. Wolfram refused to disguise himself as a commoner, as he saw no need for it since they were still in Shin Makoku. As a result, despite hiding their real identities, the four of them dressed in the clothing of the higher class.

"Greta, Greta!" The little girl had been running ahead of them, laughing and dancing. Yuri was a bit worried whenever they lost sight of her, since in his mind Greta was an easy victim for criminals and other wrongdoers. The small girl heard him calling her name, and he stopped to run back to him. Yuri rested on a hand on her shoulder "Don't run so far, okay? Despite what you may think Shin Makoku isn't so safe that crime is unheard of."

"But Yuri, look over there! There's a festival or party of sorts happening!" Greta was right; Yuri could see the crowd and hear the music and other loud noises. There were entertainers and performers dancing and playing music, while small children ran around chasing each other or balloons. The strong smell of food lingered in the air, inviting curious passerbys to approach.

"Looks like Lord Hastings is hosting a celebration for his birthday today" Wolfram commented. Catching Yuri's confused look, he explained "one of the nobles, I believe you'll like him; he's quite popular to both the higher and lower classes. Lord Hastings is seen as a humanitarian as he always gives jobs to the poor. He is a patron of the arts, and has taken in many artists and writers."

"Sounds like someone we can be friends with!" Greta chirped happily.

"She's right, speaking of which" Murata gave Yuri a pointed look "despite your progress with international politics, you have yet to meet all the Mazoku nobles and establish ties. The last thing we need is a civil war, it's about time you start making connections in your internal politics. Gwendal and Gunter have both done it for you, but one day you'll need to meet and handle them yourself."

"Right" Yuri nodded. Murata continued.

"Just so you know, Lord Hastings' wife died years ago. He had one son, but the boy was….unfit for a noble, so he's been disowned. Don't ever bring up his family with him, okay? His son isn't exactly one you'll be proud of." Yuri nodded once more, before getting distracted by Greta tugging on his sleeve and dragging him towards the celebration. Murata and Wolfram followed at a slower pace, but before they got much further a blond boy about their age crashed into them.

"Oi, watch where you're going!" He yelled before making a run, except he never got the chance. Wolfram seized the boy by the wrist, and the others saw Wolfram's pouch of money in the thief's hands. Despite being obviously caught in act, the boy wasn't daunted. "Hey, that's yours? I don't know how it got into my hand!" Wolfram's grip on the other boy tightened, causing some more panic. "Look, you're asking to be mugged, dressed like you are in places like these! Ow! Consider it a lesson and just let me go!"

Murata was about the boy's height, and he stepped forward to block his path "If we let you go, you'll never learn. We might as well turn you over"

"Hey, hey, wait! No need to get so hasty!" The blue-eyed boy was trying, and failing, to escape now. Wolfram looked as if he was about to draw his sword just to stop the other boy from making a scene, but Greta's shout stopped them.

"Lenny?!" She called out, recognition on her features. The other boy stopped and turned around, recognition also drawn on his face.

"Little Greta?!" There were several raised eyebrows, but it didn't do much as Greta hopped forward to the boy. When the boy ceased his escape attempt, Wolfram let him go so that the thief could talk to Greta. "Greta? I haven't seen you for a long while now! I thought you met your death when you first went to Blood Pledge Castle!" He didn't notice the looks the others passed each other.

"No, I'm alright, the soldiers and Maou never hurt me."

"Sure looks like it," Lenny took a quick glance at Greta's clothing, which had been hand-picked by Wolfram "you appear to be very well off."

"I got adopted by Wolfram and…Yuri" The girl corrected herself, knowing that at the moment they were to keep a low profile.

"Yea, I recognize Lord Wolfram von Bielefeld" Lenny answered as he glanced at his previous captor. He sighed long-sufferingly as he looked back at Greta "after my grandmother passed away, we were left on our own. So the group's been living off the streets, picking pockets to survive. Our friends are all doing it now. Not an ideal way of living, but whenever there's money…" Greta blinked, and reached to her side.

"Oh, if you need money, you can just…"

"No way!" Lenny exclaimed, "I'm not so low that I need to beg from a friend!"

Yuri glanced between the two of them, and reached into his own pouch and pulled out a few silver coins "Here."

"Hey, like I said, I'm not going to beg from a friend, nor will I be taking charity acts!" The blond boy huffed and folded his arms.

"We need to give you a tuition fee, don't we?" Murata asked. Lenny blinked for a few minutes, before grinning.

"Alright then! Maybe I'll give you a discount next time! See ya!" And with that, he ran off. Greta watched him leave.

"Thanks, Yuri...I haven't seen him for a long while so I didn't know he'll become a pickpocket..."

"Who is he?" Wolfram asked.

"When I first came to Shin Makoku, his family took me in. He lives with his grandmother, who's adopted a small group of kids. I spent some time with them before heading for the Blood Pledge Castle to...meet you. He's a cheerful boy, they're rather poor but they've always been able to manage. After you adopted me I tried looking for them, but the house was abandoned so I assumed they left. I guess with his grandmother dying they couldn't afford the house anymore."

"I see..."

Meanwhile, Lenny ran into a forest and burst into the run-down building that the other adopted children had decided to stay in. His friends had decided to keep a low profile and chose an old building in the middle of a forest to avoid detection. Few knew of the building's existence. "My friends! I did pretty well today! Looks like we'll get some good food today!" Silence only greeted him. Lenny blinked, despite them being given free range of their time, there was always someone staying behind to keep a look out or observe any plans of the building's destruction. He moved forward cautiously, and saw something he would never forget.

"What's with all these..." He stepped forward to the new objects in the place, and his shoe sank into a thick liquid. He blinked, looked down, and slowly turned to the source. Terror coursed over his body "NORA!!" The girl, one of his grandmother's adopted children, lie staring up at him in a pool of her own blood. Beside her were the other children, all mangled and butchered with cruelty. Lenny jumped back, colliding with something else. He whirled around to see a strange man with brown hair and cowboy hat.

"Who are you?!" Lenny yelled as he backed away. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw other men approaching, all of which bore a similar object to what he found on the ground. "Hey, what are you doing?! Stop!! Let me go!!"

* * *

Back at the festival, Greta dragged Yuri around the place, laughing and dancing. The Maou was less excited than she was, but he was grinning, already allowing the festival mood to get to him. A clown cartwheeled towards them and handed Greta a balloon, before taking Yuri up and swinging him about. The two laughed in delight, and even Murata can't help laughing a little. Wolfram looked less than pleased at Yuri's new 'friend', but when the clown refocused her efforts on making Greta laugh, he didn't storm forward to break the mood. The clown did a few more tricks for them, to Greta's delight and the two Highnesses' applause. After a few minutes, Yuri handed the clown some coins, which she took with an exaggerated bow before cartwheeling away.

Other entertainments were provided to the public. There were singers and dancers, while entertainment booths were set up to lure crowds in. Other people sold food and other souvenirs, calling out loudly and promising cheap prices. Greta was soon carrying a doll she had won, while Yuri ate something resembling meatballs on a stick. Murata was cheerfully eating from a bag of sweets he had purchased, and Wolfram, despite his dignified manner, had several balloons tied on his wrist. The festival took up a huge amount of land, stretching towards the gate of the capital. As the group nearly finished their tour of the festival, Yuri spoke again "Where is this Lord Hastings anyways? You'll think there will be a stage here where he'll be standing and giving a speech."

"Despite his festivals" Wolfram explained "Lord Hastings is rarely seen in the public eye. People know what he looks like due more to the paintings of him then actually seeing him. I told you before he is a patron of the arts, so many artists tend to paint him. The higher class mostly know him due to annual meetings and his frequent presences at art gallerys and operas. Otherwise, he rarely steps out of his castle."

"So that's how it is, either I meet him by summoning him as Maou, or I go to those art places." Yuri swallowed the last bit of his food before tossing it in the garbage. Seeing the wall of the gate surrounding the city, he concluded they must be at the outskirts by now "Let's head back, there should be nothing left for us to see." He was wrong.

"Like I said, without a proper pass, you can't just walk into this city!" A loud male voice was saying, successfully drawing their attention.

"Pass?! This is an emergency! We need to speak with the Lion of Ruttenberg now! It's important!" An equally loud female voice was shouting. Curiosity getting the better of them, Yuri's group moved forward to see what the shouting was about. It was at the gate entrance, one of the guards was in a verbal yelling match with a young woman with dirty blond hair and green eyes. She also wore what would be termed as foreign clothing in Wolfram's and Greta's eyes, but Yuri and Murata saw it as clothing from those cowboy movies of the Wild West. Behind her were two men, also wearing similar clothing. One was tall and rather skinny, the other was short and chubby. Both of them were engaged in the shouting match as well.

"The Lion of Ruttenberg?" Yuri turned to Wolfram "That's Conrad, isn't it?" Wolfram nodded.

"Listen! We need to talk to him quickly!" The woman was saying. "We have important information that he'll need!"

"The Lion of Ruttenberg has other things to do besides listening to his fans!"

"I don't even know the guy! I'm not a fan! I seriously have information for him!"

"Get a proper pass and I'll let you in!"

"Look, Yosak sent me! Now let me in!"

"Just let her in guard, I'll take over from here" The guard and woman stopped shouting and turned to see Wolfram standing there. The woman may not recognize him, but the guards quickly saw that they were facing Wolfram von Bielefeld, son of the former Maou. He may no longer be prince, but he was still one of those extremely close to the current king, so they knew better then to oppose him.

"As you wish, my lord. Do you wish to give her a pass as well?"

"Not yet, at least not until we've heard what she's here for" Wolfram cast the woman a look, which she didn't flinch away from. The guards gave a short bow before allowing her and her men to pass. None of the guards recognized the brown-haired boy as the Maou himself, or the other blond-haired boy as the Great Sage, so they directed their humble behavior only to Wolfram. The foreigners followed Wolfram back to where Yuri's group was, and Yuri being Yuri, smiled at her politely.

"Hello, if may ask, who are you and where are you from?"

"My name is Gloria, I'm from a faraway place which you've probably never heard of, and I'm here to deliver some information to the Lion of Ruttenberg."

"If Yosak told you to give us the information, it should be pretty important." Murata nodded "what is it?"

"I don't plan to tell you that" Gloria answered "I'm sorry, but at the moment I can't trust anyone else other then the Lion of Ruttenberg. My information is meant only for his ears."

"Hey!" Greta exclaimed. "Do you know aside from Conrad, there's...!" Yuri rest a hand on her shoulder, and she quickly quieted, realizing Yuri didn't want his identity out yet. The taller of Gloria's men spoke up.

"Conrad? So that's the Lion of Ruttenberg's name?" He turned to his own group "We can start searching from there."

"It would be easier for you to let us help you though" Murata countered "Wolfram von Bielefeld here is Conrad's half brother, if you wish we can take you to him"

"Is that true?" The other man exclaimed, but Gloria cut through.

"Will, Bill, how can you trust them so easily? For all we know, they're the supporter of Baxter's rebel group!"

"Rebel group?!" Yuri exclaimed, Wolfram's eyes narrowed.

"Rebel group? Then you might as well tell us the information! Aside from me having connections to Conrad, I'm close to the Maou! I need to tell him!"

"Even if you do, what happens?" Gloria asked. "We have no proof, and even if I act as witness, I am not reliable enough. As for telling you, I can't do that, I have enough to confirm that the rebel group is being supported by a Noble of Shin Makoku, but I don't know who! For all I know, you can be the one!"

"Now listen here...!"

"In that case, unless you meet Conrad and he tells you to trust us, you won't say anything." Murata nodded "You're cautious at least, I can give you that. However, for you to try contacting Conrad by yourself is going to be pretty difficult. Why don't you just let us help you? I understand you may think we are leading you on a trap, so how about this? You leave your men, and we take you to Conrad. If we are genuine, you'll give your information to him and he will perhaps be able to help you. If we turn out to be leading you to a trap, your two men there will find Conrad by themselves and tell him everything. We will not know where they are hiding, so they will have your information even if we try to kill you."

There was a thoughtful silence at that. Gloria and her subordinates looked at each other for a while, before she turned back to Murata "Agreed"

"To help you escape should we turn false or leak an order out to kill," Murata handed the men several gold coins "here is some money for you to live on if you are required to lie low for a while. It should be enough for four days, and afterwards even provide a way to escape." Bill took the money, counted it, and put it away. "Now, you two can leave, and we will not know where you two plan to stay. I suggest you buy some normal clothes though, since the two of you will stand out."

"...Very well, if Gloria will risk it, we will too" Bill then whispered something in Gloria's ear, and she nodded.

"Alright, if things turn out well, I'll look for you there. If I don't come back by midnight, assume that I've been killed." The two men nodded and left, easily disappearing into the festival crowd despite their clothing. Gloria turned back to the others "How should I address you all, since you seem to be of the higher class?"

"No need for that," Yuri smiled "just call us by our names. I'm Yuri, that's Murata, you already know him to be Wolfram, and this is Greta."

"My apologies if my behaviour earlier was rude" Gloria explained "I'm rather cautious at the moment, since being new here I don't know who to trust and who to avoid."

"We understand" Murata smiled "and we won't ask you for anything. We'll take you to Conrad, and he will confirm to you that you may trust us."

**Wow, I wrote this all in two classes since I had one as a spare and the other was a class where the teacher indirectly told us to skip because it was IB exams and we're technically allowed to 'miss' class to 'study' instead. I don't happen to have any tests today so I sat down to write and…XD **

**Cookies to those who can guess the promotion in this chapter! **


End file.
